This year, Penn State’s beloved Daily Collegian lost 100% of their funding from Penn State’s general fund. Last summer, the Penn State Board of Trustees affirmed this decision, as they had cut 50% of funding entering the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
As if this decision had not been detrimental enough to the publication, the school removed 35 Daily Collegian newsstands on September 18th with no notice to the newspaper. The cuts have grown into a discussion as to whether or not this act was mere budget cuts or a potential disbandment of the historic newspaper.
The Collegian’s History
For our readers who are not aware, the Daily Collegian is one of Penn State’s largest student-run publications. Founded in 1887, the Collegian has been a long-time news source for Penn State students, faculty, alumni and more.
The Collegian covers a variety of Penn State events: concerts, football games, historical events and more. It has been a long-standing resource, providing articles on their website as well as print.
School Setbacks
According to an article written by Editor-in-Chief, Nick Stonesifer, Penn State initially announced that no organization would receive cuts more than 4% going into 2025. The school funding helped ensure all students could gain free access to the website and print.
“The Board of Directors of Collegian, Inc. sent a letter of appeal in early 2023 to Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi to request holding a cut to 15%,” says Stonesifer. In response, the university’s chief of staff assured that the letter was received.
“[We] never received another response.”
Furthermore, newsstands holding the print product were removed with no notice to the Collegian. According to an article written by Emma Naysmith, “There were around 35 racks inside campus buildings, with three running a Kamala Harris advertisement and six running voter registration ads in poster space above the newspapers. All racks and newspapers have been removed and their location remains unknown, as noticed Thursday.”
“Our student journalists put in a lot of really hard work in making sure that we produce a really quality print edition. . . I’m surprised that they would do something like this, especially without giving us warning, because we’re not affiliated with the university.”
Amy Shafer, Editor-in-Chief
The racks reappeared that following Friday with no advertisements, however, it already caused a huge hit on the Collegian since their funding was previously cut.
Potential reasons as to why the newsstands were taken down could be due to the Collegian violating advertising rights. Given certain statutes, the Collegian have been acting within their rights since its establishment and never faced incidents like this before.
What’s Next
With each of these actions happening within a similar timeframe, there is room to question what motivates the university to act accordingly with the Daily Collegian. With budget cuts and newsstand removal occurring back to back, this could seem like a simple procedure for the school or potential censorship.
“I believe wholeheartedly in journalism as a service, an important part of our democratic society. . .The services the Collegian provides are absolutely essential.”
Ray Schmitt, Director of Penn State Student Media
The Collegian has stated that they will be moving forward as a publication on campus. Given the circumstances, it’s important to admire the Collegian for being a strong influence on Penn State culture, persevering no matter what; from one news source to another, keep going, Daily Collegian.
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